


A Forgotten Melody

by paperxcrowns



Series: The Fabric of Magic [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Robin: Son of Batman (Comics)
Genre: (it's implied mostly), Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Angst, Bruce Wayne Needs a Hug, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Damian doesn't understand human things, Fae Magic, Faeries - Freeform, Good Parent Talia al Ghul, Human Bruce Wayne, Magic, Mara Al Ghul (mentioned) - Freeform, Past Talia al Ghul/Bruce Wayne, Protective Talia al Ghul, Tim is a sorcerer, Unseelie Court, both valid, damian is half fey, dick is a celestial nymph, no beta we die like robins, or humans, trying to stick to canon as best as i can, y'know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:46:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29387208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperxcrowns/pseuds/paperxcrowns
Summary: Bruce first encountered Talia Al Ghul, daughter of the Unseelie King, many years ago.Now, ten years later, she asks for his help. Bruce did not expect her to mean she needed him to protect their child, their son.
Relationships: Talia al Ghul & Bruce Wayne
Series: The Fabric of Magic [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2158773
Comments: 7
Kudos: 64





	A Forgotten Melody

**Author's Note:**

> you know what, the idea was cool, so i'm rolling with it
> 
> a few things: 
> 
> there are no Lazarus Pits in this AU, everything is done by magic, and there's no need for the pit to grant immortality, as faeries have a very long lifespan.
> 
> i do not use Ra's' name because names hold a lot of power to the faeries and as the Unseelie King, he wouldn't let anyone know his true name. nope, not even his children.
> 
> human bodies and their biology makes it physically impossible for them to do magic unless they have an ancestor or something who could use magic.
> 
> only fae folk can speak fae languages. even half-faes can speak them, but pretty much no one else.

Bruce rarely ventures out on the streets of Gotham as himself. Night was always the most dangerous time of day and never recommended even with the best charms and protective wards a person could buy. It was even more dangerous for humans, even ones who, like Bruce, went out at night to protect Gotham City. 

But Bruce had gotten a summons from Talia Al Ghul herself, daughter of the Unseelie King, Unseelie Princess, and one of the most dangerous people Bruce knew. She would never summon him unless the situation was dire enough. And since this is the first time she’d ever sent him a summons in ten years, the situation had to be one Bruce couldn’t ignore.

So, he’d tasked Alfred with making sure Tim went to bed at a reasonable time. He just hoped he wouldn’t come home to the fire department at his house once again because Tim decided to experiment with his powers again. 

Bruce approached the small suburban park Talia had chosen to meet in-- inconspicuous and unassuming, but Bruce knew better than that. Parks and playgrounds always had at least two portals leading to the realms of the Fae. 

Bruce couldn’t do any incantations or cast any spells on the lock as a human, so he had to resolve to a highly corrosive potion among the ones he always carried with him, in and out of the Batman uniform. He’d been experimenting with potions, especially disolvents under the watchful eye of Alfred to avoid melting a hole right through the ground. It was a miracle Alfred even let him use his potions kit anymore, honestly.

Bruce poured a few drops of the dissolvent and the metal started melting like hot wax with a soft hiss. It only took a few seconds for the lock to be completely gone. Bruce pushed the heavy iron gate open. He almost laughed at the irony of that. Iron to supposedly keep the faeries out of the park, even though the portals were already situated inside the park. 

A silent park was always eerie.

Especially with the knowledge that it may be silent, but it was not empty.

There were shadows on the monkey bars and the slide. The swings were shifting slightly, rusty metal squeaking, despite the lack of any kind of breeze.

Bruce had grown up here. He faced unhinged creatures every night. He even lived with a few unhinged creatures of his own who were too trigger-happy for their own good. He’d traveled through most of the other realms, and to both the Unseelie and Seelie Courts. He had long since grown past feeling nervous of his city’s nightlife. He wasn’t stupid enough to stop being wary and on-guard, but this was familiar. This was home. This was  _ his.  _

He walked past the park, eyeing the possible spots where he might find Talia.

Faeries liked to hang around fairy rings. The hopscotch squares traced in chalk on the cement next to the basketball hoop, the circle of moss next to the sandbox, the circle of toadstools just beyond the playground and further in the park. 

“Beloved.”

Bruce whirled around, his body tense, one arm hovering over the swiss army knife, blade made of iron, that he’d tucked in the pocket of his jeans  _ just in case  _ this was yet another ambush.

Instead, he came face to face with Talia Al Ghul, the woman he’d once believed was the love of his life. The one woman he’d once believed wasn’t like her father. But she was an Unseelie faerie, and she was just like them. His eyes narrowed.

“Talia,” he said.

She was just as breathtaking as he’d last remembered her, wearing an emerald green dress, half-hidden by a dark cloak with delicate designs etched in golden thread on the sleeves. Her silky black curls were neatly braided over one shoulder. 

Her lips curled in a smile. “It has been a long time,” she said, tilting her head forward.

Bruce didn’t move. “What do you want?” he asked.

She’d once promised him she’d go with him to Gotham, just to get away from her father, and from the Court. She’d told him she’d trusted him. Bruce had been young and easy to fool and full of love for her. He’d waited for her all night, but she had not shown. 

Days later, she’d sent him a message telling him she was staying with her father, but would come to Bruce’s aid should he need it. 

So no, Bruce did not trust Talia. Faeries could not lie, but they all found ways to twist their words around enough to make the truth the barest distinction of a lie. 

She stepped towards him until she was out of the shadows of the slide and he could see the faint glow of her green eyes. Unseelie magic.

“My father is a very dangerous man, Beloved,” Talia said, a smile on her lips, but her eyes hard and angry. “He likes to have control over what belongs to him.”

Bruce shuddered slightly at that. Yes, he knew that from personal experience. 

“His subjects belong to him. His children belong to him,” her voice was cold and bitter. “I belong to him. And once upon a time,  _ you _ belonged to him.”

Bruce narrowed his eyes. “I do not belong to the Unseelie King,” he said. “Not anymore. What are you getting at, Talia? I am tired of your mind games--”

She turned her head sharply. “This is not a  _ game,” _ she hissed. “And if it is, I certainly do not hold as much control of it as you may think. Remember, the Unseelie King is my father, and I am his subject. He controls me.”

Bruce was starting to understand what she was trying to say, but that only answered one question and asked so many more. Why now? Why tonight? Why not years ago? Did something happen?

He felt dizzy.

“I had to leave,” Talia said. “I wanted to leave his control. You would have given me freedom. But he found out.”

“That would not have stopped you,” Bruce said. “You would have found a way.”

Talia shook her head, her smile sharp. “Yes. But there was something that you did not know. That I myself had just found out.” Her green eyes locked with his. “I was pregnant, Beloved.”

The words hit Bruce like a tidal wave, a freezing wall of water swallowing him whole and sweeping him off his feet. 

He stumbled back. “What?” he asked.

“I was pregnant with our child,” Talia repeated. “My father had other children. I was just one among many, he would not have cared much if I left. But an heir changed everything. He would have hunted me. He would have found me, and there was no chance he would let you live.”

Bruce was ready to cry. There was static buzzing in his ears, making Talia’s words hard to discern and understand.

He’d had a  _ child. _

All these years, and he had not known.

Ten years, now.

His child was ten years old. 

He leaned heavily on the monkey bars, his head swimming, his legs weak.

“He would have slaughtered you and your mentor,” Talia said, her voice soft and bitter. “A king needs an heir. My brother was to have a daughter. And I a son.”

A son. 

He had a son.

“What is his name?” Bruce asked, his voice thick.

Talia stepped closer but kept a few feet of distance between them. “Damian,” she replied.

Bruce’s voice wouldn’t work. “Why didn’t you tell me before? Why  _ now, _ Talia?”

“I couldn’t,” she said, casting her eyes away from Bruce. “My father would have killed you  _ and  _ me, Beloved. Without hesitation. He was already in charge of Damian’s training, limiting his contact with me-- I had to get him out of my father’s hold. I managed to convince him to send Damian to you to train him. This is the only place I know he can be safe. In Gotham. With  _ you.” _

“Talia,” Bruce breathed. “Is he--”

She smiled knowingly, reaching forward to take hold of Bruce’s hand. There was a shock of electricity when her hand made contact. It was painfully familiar, the delicate touch of a fae’s hand, charged with magic.

She could be twisting words, Bruce realized belatedly. She could be saying something else, mean something else, find her way to lie through the truth.

If she was, Bruce didn’t think he would ever get over it. Not when hope and so many new emotions were singing in his chest, small and quiet and tentative, but there. His kid.

His kid. 

Talia half turns, her hand still loosely holding Bruce’s, his hand buzzing at the contact. This would always be the closest he’d come to understanding magic.

Talia spoke something in Fae. It was the tongue of the Unseelie Court, rhythmic and sharp. A slight figure stepped from behind a small cluster of trees and came forward.

Bruce was pretty sure he’d suddenly forgotten how to breathe. 

Damian had his mother’s lean built and delicate features and silky black hair that seemed even darker than his. His eyes were his mother’s shimmering green but seemed a little duller, more normal. If Bruce looked long enough, he could see some of himself in Damian, from the rounder shape of his eyes to his thin lips; glimpse of his human side past the ethereal of his faerie side.

“Damian,” he said, the words new and foreign on his lips.

“Hello, Father,” Damian said, his voice slightly accented, much more pronounced than Talia’s accent. 

He was wearing a tunic the same shade as Talia’s with similar intricate patterns sewn in gold that shimmered slightly in the bright moonlight.

Bruce smiled as he forced the tears away. He’d almost chosen to ignore Talia’s summon. He’d almost missed all of this.

“I will be needed back at my father’s side soon,” Talia said, then leveled a serious look at Bruce. “I trust you will keep my son safe.”

Bruce nodded numbly. “Of course,” he said in a muted voice. 

Talia jerked her chin in a sharp nod then crouched in front of Damian. She said something in Fae. his carefully blank look never once wavered, neither did his ramrod-straight posture. He only nodded once or twice and replied back with a single word.

She sighed softly, both hands on his shoulders, and pulled him in a quick hug before standing up to face Bruce again.

“His English needs improvement,” she told him. “He speaks well, but there are many words he doesn’t know. His grandfather never put much interest in teaching him English,” she added, grimacing a bit. “And you will need to be patient with him. He is not accustomed to this world as much as he is used to the Unseelie Court. All he has known is his grandfather and trainers. They have not been kind with him.”

And that. That was just a rusty knife plunged in Bruce’s heart. 

Because he knew what the Unseelie King was capable of. And he knew how ruthless he was. His son had been put through similar, if not more intense training than him and he was only ten. He was only ten and Bruce had never known him

“When the Unseelie King comes to retrieve him,” Talia said. “You must be prepared to fight for him.”

He met her steely look with one of his own. “I am ready to protect my son at all costs, Talia,” he replied coolly.

She smiled mirthlessly. “You need to know what keeping him will mean,” she replied simply, breezily. “It will not be easy.”

_ That, _ Bruce already knew. And he’d admit it, he was probably unprepared for this, just like he’d been unprepared for Dick, and Jason, and Tim, and Steph. But he’d never let that stop him before and he certainly wouldn’t let it stop him now.

He simply nodded. “Thank you, Talia,” he said.

She turned back and smiled. “I will miss you both,” she said. “Take care of each other.”

With that, she vanished around the slide and vanished completely from sight. Bruce made a mental note to mark off that spot as another portal to the Unseelie Court. A problem for future him.

He glanced down at Damian, who was standing just as rigid as before, eyes never meeting Bruce’s.

“Are you ready to go home?” he asked.

The barest of frowns pulled at Damian’s delicate features. “Home is not here,” he said.

“Well then, are you ready to go to my home?” Bruce asked instead.

Damian finally looked up from the ground, only to make brief eye contact with Bruce. “Yes,” he said simply. 

“Come on, then,” Bruce said, smiling at his son. “The car’s parked just around the corner of the street. Not even five minutes. We’ll get you at the Manor real quick.”

It occurred to Bruce that he had no idea when faeries slept. Or if they even needed to sleep. Dick could operate with little sleep perfectly fine. Tim needed as much sleep like a regular human. Jason had always needed to keep warm at night-- and Bruce was not going to think about Jason. 

He walked at Damian’s brisk pace with relative ease despite the exhaustion clinging to his bones. So much had happened and it wasn’t even three in the morning. 

He was actually glad about that. Three in the morning was the most dangerous time of the night, and he much preferred to be at home at that time if he was out of his Batman suit. He did not like 3am. At all. 

The streetlamps cast the street in bright orange. There was the faint sound of eerie chanting, but they were far enough from the nearest witch bar and cemetery that Bruce didn’t really let it bother him. 

Damian frowned beside him, casting strange looks at the orange light and the asphalt of the road. He actually froze when he spotted Bruce’s sleek black car. Bruce pulled out his keys and unlocked it. The quicker they were home, the better he’d feel.

“It’s a car,” he explained, opening the passenger seat. “It takes us places, just like horses, but faster.”

Horses at the Unseelie Court were a nightmarish version of what was here, but they were still called horses. Unfortunately.

That seemed to do it for Damian. He strode over quickly and climbed in without a sound, only an apprehensive look at Bruce when he shut the door.

He quickly climbed into the driver’s seat and dialed Dick’s number before starting the car. Damian stared at the smartphone with disdain, his hands curling into fists with every ring that echoed loudly around them. Sound sensitivity. He’d have to keep that in mind.

Dick picked up on the seventh ring. 

“Hmm… Bruce?” he asked sleepily.

Bruce winced. “Sorry, chum, did I wake you?” 

Dick hummed. “Nah, I was dozing. I watched movies with Tim until he fell asleep. One sec--” Bruce heard the sound of a door closing. “Okay, what’s up? You coming home?”

“Yes,” Bruce said. “I’m on my way right now.”

Dick sighed. “Good. I don’t like it when you stay out past three. How did it go with Talia?”

Bruce sighed. “There was… a lot.” He glanced at Damian, who kept his gaze firmly on the road.

Dick almost seemed to stop breathing on the other side of the phone. “Bruce,” he said in a low voice. “What did you do?”

Bruce’s lips pulled in a scowl and he glanced at Damian again. He hadn’t budged an inch.

“You weren’t with me yet,” Bruce explained as calmly as he could despite the flurry of emotions warring in his chest. He had a son. He had a  _ son.  _ He had a  _ son  _ with  _ Talia Al Ghul. _ She’d vanished in the night without a trace and had come back with his son. “It was before you came to live with me. I went to the Unseelie Court to train, to see if they could help in any way--”

He’d still been so angry about his parents, so reckless, not thinking anything through. Back when he’d thought he could still learn magic, somehow defy his biology, and figure out how to do magic.

“I’m sorry,” Dick said. “You made a deal with the  _ Unseelie king? _ Bruce-- first of all, what the  _ hell _ were you thinking? And second of all,  _ this isn’t something you just don’t tell your kids!” _

Bruce sighed, a headache already worming its way behind his eyes. “I  _ know. _ But that’s not--”

“Let me guess,” Dick said flatly. “You gave them your true name like the idiot that you are.”

Bruce personally believed he did a spectacular job at reigning in his temper. He was in the middle of a park, alarmingly close to three in the morning. It certainly was neither the time nor the place for this.

“You know what, yes, I did. It was ten years ago, I wasn’t expecting--”

“Wasn’t expecting  _ what?” _

“I’ll tell you when we get home,” Bruce said. The explanation was too long and Bruce wasn’t sticking around long enough to attract any unwanted guests. 

_ “We? _ Bruce, what--”

Bruce hung up, knowing full well just how mad Dick would get about that, and turned on the radio. 

“You’ll love it here,” Bruce told Damian. “You’ll get along great with Dick and Tim.”

Damian didn’t say anything. He didn’t move. He didn’t look at Bruce. His muscles were locked and his fists were clenched tightly the knuckles white. One day, Bruce promised himself, he’d make Damian believe he was safe with them.

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr :)](https://blas-ph-emy.tumblr.com/)


End file.
